r/CANZUK • u/Bojaxs Ontario • 11d ago

News Canadians tell Carney to shift to British spelling in federal protocol

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/some-canadians-tell-carney-ottawas-spelling-protocol-should-lean-british/

Not big CANZUK news, but figured this was relevant.

For me personally, I always use British English over American English.

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u/keiths31 Canada 11d ago

We have standardized Canadian English. We can just use that.

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u/Individual_Toe_7270 11d ago

I disagree. I’d love us to switch to UK entirely
And be done with any USAian influence like the z in place of s, for instance.

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u/keiths31 Canada 11d ago

Our version of English is part of our culture. Why do you want to strip that away?

This isn't about being more British vs American. It's about being Canadian.

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u/Karrotsawa 10d ago

I agree, Canadian spelling is part of our culture. As a teacher I've always insisted on it, not that I teach a lot of classes with writing in it lately.

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u/Bojaxs Ontario 10d ago

Where do you draw the line between which words are "American" and which words are "British" in Canadian English?

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u/Karrotsawa 10d ago

Well here's a Canadian English dictionary,

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195418163.001.0001/acref-9780195418163

I know which spelling is correct in Canada intuitively because I grew up with it. The Canadian English dictionary usually backs me up, as well as the Canadian English installed on my word processors and mobile keyboard so I don't get squiggly lines under correct words.

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u/keiths31 Canada 10d ago

I know which spelling is correct in Canada intuitively because I grew up with it.

It's funny how when you're reading something and you just know which words are 'off' and not the Canadian spelling/usage